


Sink or Swim

by deepestfathoms



Category: Carrie - Stephen King, Carrie the Musical - Fandom
Genre: Carrie has a temper, Day At The Beach, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Miss Gardener is Miss Desjardin in the musical for those who don't know, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Near Drowning, Seattle Universe, Trauma, fear of water, she also yells at fish, they just changed her name for some reason??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:49:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24904849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepestfathoms/pseuds/deepestfathoms
Summary: After jogging on the beach, Miss Gardener lets her class spend a few hours in the water. She notices that one certain student isn't getting in with the rest.
Relationships: Carrie white & Rita Desjardin
Kudos: 16





	Sink or Swim

**Author's Note:**

> I'm referring to this version of Carrie for those who don't know: https://youtu.be/xEYjZB0K5sI

Rivulets of water ran and branched and reconnected all across the sandy bay. Sea birds dove and wheeled in and out of the tide, flapping off to their nearby nests with beaks full of fish. A chunky pelican was perched on a jagged granite rock at the jetties, where waves cracked like a whip against the rocks and sent sprays of white foam shooting into the air. Broken shells glistened in the sand, being dragged to and fro by the water sprinting up and down the shoreline. The crisp blue sky turned a sinister dark blue-grey in the far distance, where thunder grumbled patiently, but not even the occasional flashes of lightning from the oncoming storm could ruin the mood of the high school students playing gleefully in the water.

Miss Gardener had driven them out in a school bus between the third and fourth period. It was a trip for gym class, a jogging exercise down the beach, and their reward was the rest of the school day off to play in the water if everyone obeyed. And everyone did- not a single girl stopped running the entire time. Now, they all blithely basked in their success.

The closest to the bay were Fern and Jessica, who were sitting in the shallows, talking and drizzling mud on their legs and then letting the waves sweep it away. A few yards in front of them were Chris and Sue wrestling wildly in the water, growling and grunting like puppies in a playpen. They splash and jab and punch at each other, toppling over and springing back up against seconds later, laughing their heads off. Further away, Frieda flaunted a wig of yellow-orange seaweed while crying out in an overly feminine voice.

“Oh, woe is me!” She warbled, causing her audience around her to giggle. “How will I ever escape this raging tide? I will prune out here!”

“No fear!” Norma suddenly lurched up from the water, brandishing a piece of driftwood like a sword. “Your knight in shining armor is here!”

“Oh! My hero!” Frieda cried.

“Is the damsel in distress thing working for you?” Helen asked, watching.

“Yes, very much so, thank you!” Frieda answered haughtily, raising her nose and then dissolving into giggles.

“A sea monster!” Norma suddenly exclaimed, whirling around in a flurry of droplets and pointing her impromptu wooden stick at Helen. “You dare to speak to the princess?”

Helen blinked before understanding. She hunched over with her teeth bared and her hands outstretched and curled in a claw-like formation.

“I do!” She bellowed. “Because it’ll be _I_ who marries her!”

“Woah, Helen’s gay,” Commented Tina.

“Gasp!!!” Frieda exclaimed dramatically. “What a change of events!”

“No! The princess is MINE!” Norma yelled before lunging at Helen. She flung her piece of driftwood across the water and tackled Helen below the surface, where they writhed with theatrical sound effects while their audience cheered.

Miss Gardener watched them from the bay, shaking her head fondly. She sunk her feet into the wet sand, finding a cold spot of muck and curling her toes into it. It sent a momentary chill up her legs and to her spine, which was then combated by a whisking breeze of cool air. It was rather chilly to be out swimming, but after jogging two miles, nobody probably care. Everyone was in the water in some way, whether it be wading or searching the seabed for shells and crabs or fighting.

Well, everyone except Carrie White.

Carrie was crouched on the bay with her feet nearly buried by the wet sand. She was poking through the ground with her index finger and making a neat pile of tiny shells, not aware that she was slowly sinking. She was far enough away to not get splashed by the regular movements of the waves, but sometimes the tide would come in further up and she would recoil away as if it were actually lava and not just seawater. Miss Gardener walked over to her and she looked up at her. Her plain rash guard was blindingly white in the sunlight and a bright contrast to her navy blue gym shorts.

“Hello, Carrie,” Miss Gardener greeted warmly. “Want to get in?” She nodded to the water. Small shapes, silver and green and yellow, darted through the shallows.

Carrie followed her gaze with a look of distaste. She didn’t seem too fond of the idea of getting wet. 

“Do you?” She asked instead of answering properly. She dug her fingers into the wet sand and Miss Gardener thought she may be clenching them into fists.

“I could swim,” Miss Gardener said.

Carrie’s brow twitched a little and she peered at the ocean again before scattering her pile of shells and standing up. “Okay,” She said, shaking globs of muck off of her left foot. “Let’s go.”

But she doesn’t move. Not for a moment. She stood still, studying the surface of the churning water and the girls who played in it. Then, she took a deep breath and started trudging forward.

“Carrie?” Miss Gardener fell into step beside her. “Are you alright? You look a little green around the gills.” She mentally patted herself on the back for the sea-related comment when they were at the actual sea, but didn’t laugh when she realized it seemed to make Carrie look even more ill.

“I’m fine,” Carrie whispered.

“Are you sure?” Miss Gardener pressed gently. “You don’t have t-”

“No,” Carrie cut her off. Her voice is thick with strangled emotions. “I have to.”

Miss Gardener wanted to ask why Carrie ‘had to’, wondering if it was because of peer pressure from the other girls or something else, but she kept her mouth shut. Carrie already looked profoundly uncomfortable and she didn’t want to make her feel worse.

“Okay,” Miss Gardener said. “Come on. We don’t have to go far.”

They ventured out into waist-deep water. Well, waist-deep for Miss Gardener, it was more to the ribs for Carrie because she wasn’t exactly very tall. Several yards away, Chris leapt out from under the surface and tackled Sue. Carrie jumped at her loud battle cry.

“Pretty day, isn’t it?” Miss Gardener said idly, trying to make conversation with her jumpy student.

“It’s going to rain,” Carrie responded, staring out at the darkened horizon. Her eyes were shiny and blank.

“Yeah,” Miss Gardener nodded. “But we’ll be gone by then, don’t worry.”

Carrie gave a tiny nod, pulling her gaze away from the dark clouds. Now, she stared down at the water rolling around her, tense and poised, watching wet sand particles drift over her bare feet. Not even a second later, she jolted so fast that Miss Gardener didn’t even know what had happened until she felt the weight on her left and realized that Carrie had clambered up her side like a ladder. The girl hung to her like a monkey that had just learned how to play The Floor Is Lava, legs locked around her knees and arms coiled so tightly around her neck that she was almost being strangled. Carrie trembled against her, goggling at the water with wide, fearful eyes.

“Carrie! Carrie!” Miss Gardener said, setting a hand on her student’s back to support her weight. “Carrie, it’s okay!”

“S-something touched me!” Carrie cried woefully. A wave splashed against her feet and she tried to curl herself even higher, managing to get one leg around Miss Gardener’s waist. It nearly caused the teacher to keel over sideways at the unbalanced weight put on her.

“Carrie,” Miss Gardener said patiently. “Honey. There are things in the ocean. Seaweed, shells, crabs, fish… They’re going to touch you.”

Carrie went bright red in an instant. She uncoiled herself from Miss Gardener and stepped back into the water. She rubbed her eyes, which were prickly and sore from the sunlight, then looked up at her teacher apologetically.

“Sorry,” She mumbled.

“It’s alright,” Miss Gardener assured her, squeezing her shoulder. 

Carrie nodded and looked down at the seabed again. The water around her ripples with her body’s tremors. To her far right, Fern and Jessica have gotten out of the shallows to go for a swim. She craned her head around to squint at them through the light, and Miss Gardener could see the red petals of a blooming sunburn on the nape of her neck.

“Did you put sunscreen on?” Miss Gardener asked. Carrie whipped her head back around to look at her and blushed again.

“I didn’t have any.” She said.

“You could have asked for some,” Miss Gardener said. “I had a bottle anyone could use.”

Carrie shrugged and looked away towards the jetties. She locked her gaze on a large, sleek seagull that was giving the romping high school students a suspicious look. She narrowed her eyes at it, matching its expression, and it ogled at her in shock. Miss Gardener tipped her head at the two of them in amusement, so she was looking in that direction when a wave suddenly ricocheted unnaturally against the slanted stone slab the bird was perched on and soaked it in a salty spray of water before it could even let out an alarmed screech.

That was...weird. None of the other waves moved like that.

Miss Gardener looked down at Carrie and saw that the girl was awfully pale, feverish-looking, even, but her skin was cold, as if she had been dipped in arctic waters. She shook her shoulder and it took Carrie a moment to blink out of whatever daze had been holding her. 

“Carrie?” Miss Gardener said. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” Carrie answered a bit too forcefully. She swallowed thickly. “I just--really don’t like the water. That’s all.”

Guilt wrenched Miss Gardener’s heart. “You can go back to the shore, honey. I won’t keep you here.”

Carrie shook her head, although she does consider the option. “I’m already out here,” She said. “It’s just--how do you people _enjoy_ this place? It’s _awful_!”

Miss Gardener laughed slightly. “How so?”

“It’s hot, for one.” Carrie said. “And humid. And _wet_.” A wave rolled by and a spray of foam spattered against her face. She made a bitter, disgusted look. “It’s _so sticky._ It makes my head hurt. And what kind of self-respecting fish would ever need to have yellow, red, blue, AND green scales? Isn’t the whole point of survival to NOT be seen by predators? Seems like a setup for death to me.”

Miss Gardener laughed again, this time much more heartily. “I haven’t seen a fish that color out here.”

“Well, they’re not _here_ ,” Carrie clipped, miffed. Her nostrils twitch and flare like an agitated bunny rabbit’s. “But they’re _out there_.” She turned her head to the ocean’s horizon and yelled, “AND I HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD TIME BEING EATEN, YOU EYEBALL-SCORCHINGLY BRIGHT IDIOTS!!”

Several of the other nearby girls stopped whatever they had been doing and looked at Carrie strangely. Carrie puffed her cheeks out at the distant waves, apparently not noticing the stares she was getting, quickly replacing the mental image of ‘angry bunny rabbit’ with ‘chipmunk with a temper’.

“Are you...talking to the fish?” Miss Gardener asked.

“Yes,” Carrie said, twitching her shoulders back and gathering herself up in a very sophisticated manner. “Because they are not smart.” She then seemed to finally notice the looks of her classmates and sidled sideways. The water eddied around her with glints of reflected sunlight. “Anyway. It smells bad, too.”

“That’s the ocean, sweetheart.” Miss Gardener said gently.

“It’s disgusting.”

Miss Gardener laughed. She flicked some water at Carrie and, for a moment, Carrie looked like she wanted to kill her. Carrie wiped her face off with a grunt of distaste. 

“It burns my nose,” She went on, apparently deciding to not snap at her coach, even though she looked like she really wanted to. “And _things_ keep _touching_ my _feet_ and--” She made a noise of discomfort, shuffling into Miss Gardener’s side. “I don’t like it.”

“Then why did you come along, if I may ask?” Miss Gardener asked. “Since you hate it so much. You didn’t have to come- it was optional.”

“Well, this is the first time that I’ve ever been to the beach,” Carrie said. “So I didn’t know it was this awful before a few hours ago. But I have decided that I dislike it. I dislike it very much.”

“Where would you want to go if you had the choice to choose the next jogging location?” 

Carrie blinked in surprise. It seemed that she had never been able to choose something she wanted before, even in a hypothetical situation. She looked up thoughtfully, thinking for a moment, then said, “The library.”

Miss Gardener laughed. Carrie looked rather offended.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry-” Miss Gardener said, trying to contain herself. “The library?”

“Yes!” Carrie said, ruffled. “You asked! I answered! I would want to jog at the library and then read once we’re done!”

“It’s a wonderful idea, Carrie.” Miss Gardener said, halting Carrie’s vex. “I’m sorry for laughing. Reading after a jog sounds very relaxing.”

“Oh.” Carrie blinked. A flaming red blush flickered on her ears. “Th-thank you.” She looked down and wrung her hands in the hem of her shirt. “Sorry. For yelling. At you.” She winced.

“It’s quite alright, honey,” Miss Gardener assured her. “I’m actually really impressed when you get angry. It’s not every day that I see you stand up for yourself. I’m proud of you.”

The blush grew until it was a full blown wildfire across Carrie’s face. She stammered over her reply, choking on her words, but managed to force out a squeaky, “Thank you.”

Miss Gardener chuckled and ruffled her hair affectionately. “You are too cute.” She turned her head to check on the other girls, so she missed Carrie’s flustered reaction to that comment, but she could easily picture it: Carrie rigid, eyes bulging, frozen in silent shock. It was worlds away from the pandemonium going on nearby.

“OI!!” Ruth roared from inside the giant hole she had been meticulously digging on the shoreline. “Get you big galumphing feet out of here!”

The offender, Norma, peered down at her from where she’s perched precariously on the edge. “I don’t even know what that word means!” She said. “But I’ll show you what galumphing REALLY looks like!”

Mary’s head popped out from the hole at the same time as Norma jumping into it. The three girls fell in a tangled tizzy, grunting and gibbering and giggling loudly. They began to wrestle, getting absolutely covered in wet sand.

“They’re like animals.” Carrie observed.

“Hey-- GET OFF OF ME, YOU WALRUS!!!” Chris shouted from in the shallows, where she was currently being held down by a proud-looking Sue.

“RUDE!!” Sue yelled. “I WOULD BE A SEA LION, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”

“Definitely.” Miss Gardener agreed.

“MISS GARDENERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!” Chris howled, flailing her limbs as she tried to get free. “SUE IS SQUASHING ME!!!”

“I AM NOT!!” Sue bellowed.

“Sue, stop squashing Chris.” Miss Gardener called without moving. At her side, Carrie giggled softly.

“Wild animals.” She said, and then her tiny smile disappeared. Miss Gardener looked at her with concern, and her face was the last thing she saw before something hard slammed into her back and green filled her vision.

Murky water.

Miss Gardener’s shoulder hit the seabed first, then her head, and then she’s wiggling around like a drunk seasnake. A second wave smashed her back down and she grunted out a stream of agitated bubbles. Her bare feet slipped in the wet sand as the undertow seized her ankles hungrily and tried to drag her further in the depths. When a third wave came cascading over the surface, roiling the water into a vicious riptide, Miss Gardener bunched her muscles and threw herself upwards.

Laughter.

She tottered backwards, blinking stinging saltwater out of her eyes, and saw through the haziness that several of her students were looking over at her, giggling.

“You okay, Miss G?” Sue called over.

“You are very graceful!” Chris added at the same time.

Miss Gardener laughed, too, pushing a stray lock of wet blonde hair out of her face. “I’m fine! I’m fine!” She called back to the girls. “It took me by surprise!”

“Clearly,” Frieda tittered.

The onlookers dispersed, returning to their own games, and Miss Gardener shook out the remaining water clogged in her ears. She turned, breathing out a laugh, and it was only then that she realized that Carrie was no longer at her side.

And that there was something red swirling in the surface of the water.

“Carrie?” Miss Gardener called frantically. A bolt of shock and terror shot through her. “Carrie?!”

There was a large splash of a wave from behind, near the jetties. Miss Gardener whirled around and realized that it hadn’t been a wave at all, but Carrie’s waterlogged body being heaved from the ocean and slammed roughly against the rocks.

Carrie was very pale and very worn down, as if she had been rotting in the ocean for days. Water is spraying from her lips and her wide, glassy eyes are bloodshot from the sting of saltwater. She tried to scrabble up the rock she’s thrown against, but it’s much too slippery and she scraped her hands and feet on the rough surface. A noise cut through the roaring tide, and Miss Gardener realized that it’s the sound of Carrie’s coughing and whimpering.

Miss Gardener stomped through the water and scooped Carrie up on her second attempt to climb the rock. Carrie threw her arms around her neck instantly, coughing and wheezing and crying against her wet collarbone. Her skin is very cold again, and the current around the two of them is churning unnaturally.

“Carrie! Carrie, it’s okay, it’s okay!” Miss Gardener makes soothing rocking motions and Carrie curled up tighter in her arms. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ve got you. I’ve got you…”

“I don’t--like--the water.” Carrie gurgled.

\------

“I was drowned.”

Grey-blue clouds blanket the sky above the tent near the school bus. Rain is falling in shimmering sheets of silver. Lightning crackled on the horizon and thunder grumbled deeply across the beach. Miss Gardener isn’t sure if the streams running down Carrie’s cheeks are rainwater, seawater, or tears.

“What?” The coach said, almost whispering in shock.

“I was drowned,” Carrie said again. She lifted her chin from where it had been resting on her huddled knees, and Miss Gardener now knew those were tears on her cheeks from the way her dark eyes glittered like broken glass in the dull light. “I was drowned. At a summer camp. The kids would dunk me underwater.” She shuddered and curled up into a tighter ball, staring out at the water, which reached restless tendrils up the beach. Several girls were still in its depths, but it only seemed to want the one scared of it. “Over and over…”

“Oh, Carrie…” Miss Gardener murmured. She reached over, half expecting Carrie to jerk away, but the girl collapsed into her arms and clung onto her for dear life. “I’m so sorry that happened to you. You don’t deserve that.”

Carrie replied in a feeble whimper. She wiggled closer until she was practically in Miss Gardener’s lap, then curled up into a wet, shaking, towel-swathed ball of misery and pain. Miss Gardener held her securely, stroking her mop of dripping brown hair.

“If I had known--”

“No,” Carrie cut her coach off. “It’s okay. I agreed to go in, remember? I thought--I could--handle it.” She clenched her fists. “But I couldn’t.”

“That’s okay, Carrie,” Miss Gardener said. “You don’t have to get over a fear. It’s okay to be scared.”

“But it’s _water_!” Carrie said miserably. “I shouldn’t be scared of that…”

“If this bothers you that much,” Miss Gardener said, “I could give you swimming lessons after school.”

Carrie looked up at her in surprise. “R-really?”

“Yes, really!” Miss Gardener said. “I want to help you, sweetheart. We can go at your own pace- we don’t have to get in at first, just dip our feet in and sit on the edge.” She brushed a loose lock of hair behind Carrie’s reddened ears and Carrie leaned into her touch like a kitten seeking warmth. “How does that sound?”

“Good,” Carrie said. She closed her eyes, nuzzling her cheek against the hand at her face. “Really, really good…”


End file.
